What happens when your life isn't blood sweat and chalk anymore?
by BumbleMumbleJimJams
Summary: The Lauren Tanner version. Really crappy title, and I'm not brill at summaries. Basically a drabble-y type thing about what I imagined Laurens life to be like after 2012. Also contains little bits of what I imagined Paysons/Kaylie's/Emily's/Jordan's life after we last saw them.


**AN:/*Since the show timeline isn't really all that clear other than Lauren turns 16 early S1 and The Olympics is a couple of months away in S3 I'm just going to say that the girls are around 18 when they go to London. The year is currently 2024, making Lauren and the others around 30. Since the show is kinda confusing about Genji Cho's age, I'm gonna say she was 15 in London but turns sixteen later on in the year. Also I'm going to say that Emily's baby was born early 2012 and would therefore be around 12 at this point, feel free to point out any mess ups in my maths/ anything else in the reviews***

***I also don't really do this style of writing much, so lemme know what you think, I personally think that this fic is a bit boring, but hey ho.* **

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Lauren Tanner was once again back in the Rock, though not on her once usual place on the beam, in the parents seating area. Smoothing back her hair which was no longer daily pinned back in braids, and rubbing her swollen stomach which now held her second child, Lauren watched the current generation of Rock kids dance around the floor, fly on bars, soar above the vault and leap onto the beam.

Lauren had cried the first time she came back here as a parent. It wasn't seeing Sasha again, as she had kept up regular contact, it was seeing a fifteen year old elite girl with blonde hair and French braids complete with a sassy attitude who reminded her so much of herself, doing 'The Tanner' on beam.

She remembers her first day back here three years ago. Mia had seen Lauren doing things on the old beam from her old back garden that she had moved into hers and Carters house. Lauren knew she shouldn't have been doing it, but she couldn't help it. Carter had scolded her when she brought it over from Steve's, and every time she even went near it now Nicky would raise his eyebrows and roll his eyes at her. Within a week of seeing her mother do one on the beam, Mia had mastered a cartwheel and ever since then she had bugged and nagged Lauren to show her more.

"Teach me those flippy things mommy! I wanna be strong like you mommy! How do I get my toes to touch my head mommy?" Mia was like a parrot as she repeated herself over and over, digging out Lauren's old training and competition DVDs. "Wow mommy, that bit of wood is so small, didn't you ever fall off and hurt yourself?"

Lauren gave in eventually. Contacted Sasha and told him to sign Mia up for classes, began stretching and conditioning with her at home. Even though it was only the basics, doing the thing she loved most in the world with the person she loved most in the world made Lauren ecstatic, even though she had to constantly remind herself that Mia may get bored and flit between gymnastics and other things, even if it was just for now, it was good.

A few weeks later Mia was running round on the gym mat, warming up before her session. Whilst Lauren was sat in the parents seating area, gripping her chair tightly every time her daughter went near a piece of apparatus that wasn't the safe gym mat. Lauren phoned Steve that night for the first time since Carter had left and asked him how he'd done it all those years. How had Steve not pulled her away every time she went near a spring board? How did he push it all down and let her do what she did all those years?

So twelve years after winning her first Olympic medal Lauren was yet again back in the place that had started it all off, that had nurtured her dream for around twelve years before she finally achieved it. Not once, but twice. Lauren had left London with three medals. She had two gold ones, for Team and Beam, and a bronze for vault. As she watched children fly through the air, twist and turn on the beam and declare to their parents they were going to the 2028 Olympics she wasn't cynical like she would've been before she went to London. She just smiled as she heard them, and hoped that they would.

A tiny little girl in a bright blue leotard and curly blonde hair half pinned back into braids had caught Laurens attention. Little Mia Tanner was trying to hold a handstand for as long as she could on a mat in the corner. She was holding up on her own and refused help from another girl who was her spot. Lauren smiled proudly. "That's my girl, my beautiful princess." She chuckled to nobody in particular. Lauren glanced around the room, only taking her eyes off of Mia for a minute or so at a time.

Sasha Belov, co head coach of the Rock and Lauren's former Coach, looked over at Lauren from where he was standing by a vault. Bobby Young, a tall twelve year old, ran towards it, jumped onto the springboard and pushed himself off of the vault, twisting and turning in the air until he stuck his landing. It wasn't until she heard cheers next to her that she realised it wasn't her Sasha was looking at, it was Emily Young. Bobby was her eldest and she had three more kids, three little girls. Lauren didn't speak to Emily really, even now she wasn't fond of her, but old habits die hard. All she knew about her life was of her children, the fact she got married to Damon rather than watching her once friends compete in the Team Final in 2012 and that she didn't want Bobby in gymnastics, but he stubbornly refused to stop. Even now Lauren could hear Emily muttering to a gym mom beside her about how she would rather Bobby be a musician like his father or a ballet dancer like one of his sisters.

Lauren smiled and was slightly nostalgic as she noticed three girls that had just gone elite pretending that the three vaults they were stood on were medal podiums, they were taking turns in bowing and showing off their none existent gold medals. Giggling as each one 'took the gold'.

Girls in the gym often asked Payson and Lauren how they'd done it, how they'd gotten there. How did it feel? Lauren never had a straight answer, because even now she didn't know how she got there. She often expected karma to come back and bite her in the ass for all the horrible crap she did to people, but it never did. Lauren told them that winning made her feel like she was on top of the world, like she could do anything.

Lauren hasn't told anybody, though she suspects Nicky knows, but every now and then she re-watches the moment when she herself stands up on the medal podium and has the gold medal placed round her neck. The tears in her eyes, the flash of white teeth as she grins, the sound of a sob escaping her mouth as she realises that she did it! She was the Beam Queen of London 2012, and nobody could take that away from her. There was also a part where she runs to Sasha and squeezes him so hard he looks like he's going to pass out.

Even now, almost thirty one, Lauren still smirks at the sight of Genji Cho taking the silver, with her fellow teammate Kaylie Cruz taking the bronze on beam. Which, to be honest, nobody expected at all, even Kaylie. The one thing that made Lauren smug about it all was that they had all performed 'The Tanner'. Lauren wasn't smug that her teammate had come below her, she was just blissfully happy. Lauren didn't know, or even dare dream it, that in Rio 2016 she would also be Beam Queen once again.

The USA womens team brought home nine gymnastics medals that year. The team gold and Lauren's beam and vault medals were joined by two bronze medals from Payson, for floor and all around. Kaylie also won all around silver in addition to her beam medal. Jordan Randall got gold on vault with her own move, which in Rio four years later was **the **move to do. Coleen also medalled on bars, which was more than anyone expected.

Coleen and Jordan lost touch with the team, though Lauren hears that Kaylie and Jordan occasionally talk and she's heard enough to know that Jordan now works with children, though doing what Lauren doesn't know. Coach Keegan was convicted too, much to the relief of everyone. Coach McIntyre informed the girls just before they went to London that Wendy had been banned from ever competing in gymnastics again, and had only escaped a criminal charge since Mr and Ms. Cruz didn't press charges. They would've done, but Kaylie asked them not to for some reason.

Back then Lauren couldn't understand why Kaylie let it go, old Lauren would've thrown everything into making sure that little bitch went to prison, but now Lauren could see why Kaylie let it go.

Lauren and Payson went back to Rio. Lauren medalled again on Beam, though it was the only apparatus she performed on. She knew something was wrong before she went to the Olympics, her fingers had started to go numb again, and she occasionally felt dizzy, but this time Lauren wasn't letting anything get in her way... Lauren continued to train after the Olympics, she knew she wouldn't be a third time Olympian, but she just couldn't let go of the sport. When she passed out during a handstand on bars she knew it was time to stop.

The minute Lauren opened her eyes and saw Payson, her father and Sasha by her hospital bedside; she knew immediately what had happened. "My heart's gone funny again hasn't it?" she managed to croak out.

"I'm afraid so sweetie," Was the only thing Steve Tanner could manage to say as he kissed his daughters forehead. Lauren had thanked them for staying with her, and then asked them to leave. They understood why, and left her alone to cry everything out. The rest of her time in hospital was spent with her making jokes with Payson about leaving gymnastics giving her a broken heart. She was patched up again, though she was advised to not do any gymnastics for a while, and it would probably be best if she never did it again.

Lauren didn't speak much for a few weeks afterwards, and every time she drove past the Rock she had to force herself to not go in. And since her back was still bruised from where she hit the mat after her fall it wasn't as hard as she thought. She also had to remind herself that she could've broken her back or worse by falling off of the bar.

So Lauren retired from gymnastics at the age of twenty two with a move on beam in the Code of Points named after her, numerous world and national titles and five Olympic gold medals. In her opinion, it was a good career. It was worth all those years of blood sweat and chalk.

By the next Christmas Lauren was holding baby Mia Lucinda Anderson in her arms. Lauren had been with Jake since they both won gold in London, but just after the Olympics in Rio he went on a tour around Europe and had broken up with her so that they could both do different things. She still had a soft spot for Carter, and was rather lonely after Jake left and well, one thing had lead to another.

Lauren and Carter split after Lauren rejected his marriage proposal. She still loved Jake, and already felt bad enough about stringing Carter along for three years. She did love Carter, but it was the type of love you have for your best friend. Lauren hasn't seen Carter since he packed his bags, gave two year old Mia a kiss and told her he will always love her and left. Within a few weeks Lauren had changed Mia's surname and tried to forget about Carter. She kept a few photos of him, and his Aunts number so that if Mia ever wanted to know about him she would. And if Carter ever wanted to see Mia Lauren wouldn't stop him, but she knew deep down that he probably wouldn't. In his logic it would probably be best for her if she didn't know him.

Lauren took up more hours in her job working as a floor and beam choreographer, eventually working her way up to the Rock. Sasha was more than happy to welcome her back, retaining no grudges from the stupid stunt Lauren had pulled which nearly destroyed Sasha's and Payson's careers. Lauren still wants to smack herself every time she thinks about what she did, about all the things she did when she just wanted to be loved, just wanted the attention. It never occurred to her then that she just had to be nicer to people to get more attention and love from them. Payson was co head Coach at the Rock. She and Sasha balanced each other out. Payson taught the balletic and artistic side of the sport, and Sasha taught the powerful and bold side of the sport.

Lauren ran into Nicky Russo too when he came back to visit Sasha. She apologised for the cortisone situation and Nicky told her to forget about it. He began training a few of the boys at the gym and asked Lauren to help with their floor choreography, over the next couple of months they got real close to each other and one night when they finally kissed it felt so natural. Lauren introduced Mia to him and over time he loved the little girl like she was his own.

Lauren got back in touch with Kaylie, who was now living in England with Austin. After London Kaylie had taken up presenting on television, and is currently trying to get a degree in psychology. She wanted to help girls like herself get over eating disorders. Austin went to college and studied something to do with physiotherapy. They had twins in 2016, and the little girl was more interested in ballet than gymnastics, to Kaylie's disappointment and their son wanted to be a fireman at the moment, though he did enjoy playing soccer.

Lauren looked around the large hall, focusing on the banners. There were three with her name on. Two were close together and were hung near the floor area. "Lauren Tanner, member of the Rock and Olympic team gold medallist 2012" The second one read the same, except it was "2016" on that. There were also banners for Payson saying the same, and there was a 2012 one for Kaylie. A few spaces down there was another banner for a Rock girl that had made the 2020 team, and yet another banner for a boy that had made the mens team in 2016.

Lauren's other banner was hung by the window near where the beams were kept. "Lauren Tanner, Queen of the Beam" As vain as it may seem, it's the first thing that catches Lauren's eyes when she walks into the gym. She's still living her dream when she sees that poster, even if just for a few seconds or so.

"Mommy look! Look what I can do!" Mia called over to her mother. Lauren watched wide-eyed as Sasha helped Mia onto a beam. Lauren held her breath as the young gymnast proceeded to do a tick-tock, a handstand and a few turns before doing a front tuck off of the end. Lifting her arms and pointing her fingers as she landed on the mat. Lauren exhaled and clapped whilst beaming at her daughter. "Well done honey,that was great."

Next to her Emily also clapped, to Lauren's surprise. "She's just like you Lauren, I think the princess of the beam may take your crown someday." She smiled.

"She's the one person I don't mind dethroning me," Lauren laughed along with Emily. If Emily wasn't going to hold a grudge why should she?

Mia performed her mini routine again and again, Lauren not daring to breathe each time she did. When Sasha finally told Mia to go warm down, Lauren had exhaled a huge breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. She never realised that she'd been holding it until she let it go. Like a lot of things she mused.

Sasha smirked at Lauren as he noticed her holding her breath, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing, I never let you fall did I?" he called over to her, Lauren had to shake her head at that and with a smile she answered. "No Sasha, you never did."

A few months later Lauren looked round the decoration filled room, with banners and blue decorations all over the place declaring "It's a boy." She saw her father and his new wife Clarissa, who made him happier than she had ever seen him. Summer was also there with Sasha, and surprisingly her ex-almost-step/mother was getting along fine with Steve's new wife. Lauren saw her best friend Payson sat on the couch with Max and their daughter Marie running around with Laurens own daughter. She saw the 'Congratulations' card from her other best friend Kaylie, who was flying over in a couple of weeks to see her new godson, and finally she saw her fiancé Nicky cuddling up with a small baby boy who was currently the center of attention.

Lauren smiled, everything is going to be okay, she decided. It used to be far from it, and it took a lot of time and growing up to get to this point, but it was fine now. Lauren Tanner was going to be okay.

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**AN:/**

***To be honest if you swap names around a bit it still kinda works. So if you hate the idea of whom Lauren ends up with and you wanted it to be someone different then just switch names. I know a lot of people wanted Lauren to end up with Jake or Carter or even Austin. So yeah, if you don't like it just replace Carters name with Jake and then Nicky's with Carter or something like that xD***

***Like I said in the first note if you notice a mistake in my working out or any mistake at all let me know please, don't feel bad for it, constructive criticism is also appreciated.***


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